Riddles
by AgentOklahoma
Summary: Tony is kidnapped and the team must save him from losing his life or his mind. This story is being taken over by Walkinthegarden, most likely under the same title.
1. Chapter 1

Untitled

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. Wish I did and any fanfic writer wouldtoo. Hope you enjoy though.

Chapter one

It was a normal day at the office, Tony was leaning back in his chair, throwing paper airplanes at McGee, who was sitting at his computer, typing fervently and Ziva was stretching and reading something on the internet. Tony got up from behind his desk and walked over to Ziva's desk, looking at what she was reading.

"You have a myspace? When'd that happen and who's 'TM77'?" he asked, reffering to the person she was chatting with.

"Yes I do have a Myspace, I got it a few months ago and he is a friend." She said, typing a response and flicking Tony's ear. Tony shot her a scandalised look and glanced at the conversation.

"'Did you hear about Agent Larson? She's getting married next year.' So it's an agent in NCIS. Hm. Who could it be? I'm going to take a shot and say it's McGiggles." Tony said, smiling at their shocked faces.

"How could you possibly have figured that out?" Mcgee asked, his jawed on the floor.

"Not that hard to figure out. TM, Timothy McGee and 77, 1977 was the year you were born. Pretty obvious if you think about it." Tony said, sitting back at his desk with a newly acquired clicky pen from Ziva's desk. Ziva was astounded but inside she was impressed.

"Well, anyone want to inform me of Agent Larson's situation or should I ask her?" He asked, spinning slightly in the chair.

"What about agent Larson?" Gibbs said, walking into the bullpen. Tony immediately stood up and started stammering.

"N-nothing Boss." He said quickly, watching as Gibbs walked back over to them. DiNozzo flinched as Gibbs stood right in front of him, preparing himself for the slap he thought was coming.

"You really should calm down DiNozzo. Switch to decaf or something. You'll give yourself a heart attack." Gibbs said, walking back to his desk. Tony looked rather shocked. Instead of losing three or four brain cells from being hit in the back of the head, he had received a concerned comment from the destroyer of said brain cells.

The rest of the day preceeded as normal, with Tony coming back in at midnight. DiNozzo walked into the bullpen with a goofy grin on his face. McGee and Ziva had gone home hours ago and Tony had just come back from a date with a girl he had met a couple days ago. He sat down at his desk and started his paperwork, hoping to get it done before one.

Half an hour later, Tony punched the air in triumph as he finished off the last page of his report. He stood up and stretched, picking up his bag and getting ready to go home for the night. DiNozzo walked out of the bullpen and to the elevator, smiling as he pressed the button for the carpark. He walked out of the elevator and to his car, while fishing in his pocket for his keys. He pulled them out of his pocket and started unlocking his car when he heard someone running up behind him. He turned to face them and they hit him in the head with a blunt object, knocking him unconscious.

Six and a half hours later

Ziva and McGee walked into the squadroom to see that Tony was not there yet. Neither was Gibbs but his stuff was, as well as a note on his desk. Ziva picked it up and read the messy scrawl that was Gibbs' writing.

"'In MTAC. Will be back at 0730. Gibbs.' Well if Tony isn't here by then, Gibbs is going to be flead." She commented, setting her stuff down on her desk, Mcgee following suit.

"It's ticked Ziva, not flead. Do you know if Abby's here? Tony thinks of her as a little sister. If she calls, he'll answer." He said, walking over to Gibbs' desk where a Caf-Pow was sitting with a post it note on it saying, 'for Abby.' Mcgee picked up the cup and started to Abby's lab, Ziva following quickly. As soon as they walked into the lab, they saw Abby staring intensely at some blood on a slide.

"Hey Abby. New case?" Tim asked, putting the drink on the desk. The goth girl shook her head.

"Gibbs found it in the car park this morning. He wants me to run it but first i looked for any defects or diseases. I didn't find any so I'm running it now." She said, putting the information into the computer, and started the search. She took a huge sip from the caf-pow and continued to explain what she was doing.

"I'm running it through the NCIS, FBI, CIA and military database, starting with NCIS. I already checked if it was human and it was." She said, taking another gulp of her caf-pow. Tim was about to talk again when the computer beeped. Abby turned around to see the results and she gasped.

"Abby, what is it?" McGee asked, trying to look at the screen. Abby moved and sat in her chair, breathing heavily.

On the screen was an icon that said 'Match Found.' The file showed a picture of picture of an NCIS agent.

"Tony."

McGee ran out of the lab and went up the stairs, going straight for MTAC. He opened the door and ran to Gibbs.

"McGee, what are you doing?" Gibbs asked, stopping his conversation with the director.

"The blood you found in the car park, how much was there?" McGee asked desperately.

"Not much. Why? Did Abby find a match?" He asked, sitting up.

"Yes. It was Tony's." He said. Gibbs stood up and left MTAC, McGee following close behind. They went back to the lab where Abby was running the test again.

"Are you sure it's DiNozzo's? Run it again." Gibbs ordered, staring at the plasma.

"I did, this is the third time." She said, entering the blood sample into the computer.

"Now I'm just running it against Tony's." The computer beeped again as it said that the test was a match.

"Oh my god. Tony." Ziva said, holding herself up with the copier, staring at the screen in disbelief.

"Abby, run the security footage from last night. Tony must have come in to do some work." Gibbs said, trying to remain calm.

"On it. Alright. He came in at midnight and left at 30 minutes past. I'm swapping to the carpark cameras now." She said, typing fervently. The footage showed Tony walking out of the elevator and to his car. He pulled out his keys and was about to put them in when someone ran up behind him and hit him with the butt of a gun. They preceded to hit him again and again, kicking him in the ribs for a while as well. Soon, they took his keys, opened the car trunk and dumped him inside, getting into the driver's seat and then drove off.

Everyone stared at the screen, hoping that it was a practical joke and Tony was going to walk into the lab with a goofy grin, bragging about how he got them all. But he didn't walk in. The doorway remained empty and the room remained silent.

"We have to find him." Abby said, finally calming down, though minutely.

"I know that. Did you get a shot of their face?" Gibbs asked, trying to avoid looking at the screen, which showed the last shot of the car leaving the view of the camera.

"No. They must have scoped out the security system. Kept their face away from the camera." Abby explained. Then, Gibbs' cell phone rang. He answered in his usual manner but he put it on loudspeaker.

"Hello Boys and Girls." A female voice said tauntingly.

"I know you'd all like to know my real name but for now you can call me Venom. I think it's safe to say that you know I have your precious little DiNozzo. Thing is, I know you'll want him back. Now, before I hang up, I'm going to let him talk to you. Here." She said, the smile evident in her voice.

"B-Boss?" Tony's unsure voice came from the phone.

"Tony! Are you alright? Do you know where you are?" Gibbs asked, trying to keep him composure.

"I don't know. They got me on my way out of NCIS. I need help." The phone must have been taken away from him because they heard Venom again.

"I know you'll do anything to save him, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you a riddle every hour. Every answer is a clue to his location. If you don't figure it out, I'm going to choose a manner of torture and let you listen to him scream. You hang up before I'm finished, he dies. You can choose to skip a clue and he won't get hurt, but then you won't get any closer to finding him. Here's your first riddle. 'I'm part of everyone, but no one pays attention, everyone knows the phrase where I'm not as close as family.' There, see you in an hour." She said, hanging up the phone. Everyone looked shocked.

"Abby, did you get all of that? Abs!" Gibbs snapped when she didn't answer. She nodded slowly, trying not to cry. She typed it into the computer and sat down, picking up Bert and hugging him, while everyone ignored the sound he made.

"Does anybody do puzzles?"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters but I will do what I please. Hahaha.

The entire team stood in front of the computer, trying to work out the puzzle. They had already lost 45 minutes getting everyone into the lab. Ducky, Palmer, Director Shepard and a number of friends in a video conference, such as Cassie Yates from Narcotics and Hollis Mann, who had recently retired.

"Does anybody know how to solve this?" Gibbs asked everyone. Almost all of them shook their heads, the rest were trying to figure it out. Abby mumbled something, hiding it the fur of her toy hippo.

"What was that Abs?" Gibbs asked calmly, knowing how hard she was taking this.

"Biology. She said that 'I'm part of everyone but no one pays attention.' She's talking about something biological. So what does everyone have?" She said, hugging Bert tighter. Everyone went silent. No one wanted to say what they were all thinking.

"Tony's going to die, isn't he?" Abby said, almost in tears. Ziva walked over to Abby and hugged her, telling her that he was going to be okay and they would figure this out. This was a huge step for the Mossad Liaison because she was always so restrained in showing affection or her emotions. Abby started to cry but didn't hug back. Then, Ducky yelled out.

"Water!" Everyone looked at Ducky and he looked rather proud of himself.

"Everyone is made up of mostly water and the phrase she was mentioning is 'Blood is thicker than water.'" He explained, watching as the people in the room, who showed what they were thinking more obviously, thought about the answer.

"It makes sense." Cassie agreed. Hollis and Palmer nodded in agreement.

"All in favour of Ducky's answer?" Gibbs said, watching as Hollis, Ducky, Palmer and Cassie raised their hands.

"All against?" He asked, and then McGee, Ziva, Director Shepard and Abby raised their hands, leaving Gibbs as the tie breaker. His mind ran wild, if they were wrong, they would have to listen to Tony suffer, if they were right, they'd be that much closer to finding their missing team mate.

"I'm going with Ducky. His answer makes sense." Gibbs said looking at the clock to see they had five minutes until the call would come in. They spent that time either biting their nails, pacing the room, clenching their hands into fists and then releasing or silently praying. They were so tense that when Gibbs cell phone rang, they all jump and Abby almost fell out of her chair. The boss answered the phone, knowing he would have to put it on speaker phone anyway. The sadistic voice of the woman they had all come to hate came out.

"Hello children. You have an answer for me yet? Or do I have to start sharpening my 'utensils.'" She said, emphasizing the word utensils.

"Our answer is water." Gibbs said, holding her breath when the phone went silent. Then they heard laughter, almost hysterical.

"Good boy. You got it right. Now, your prize is the answer of that riddle. It will aid you in finding your little lap dog. Now, since the doggie's been good, I'm going to let him talk to you." She said, handing the phone over to Tony.

"Boss?" he answered, almost sounding weak or injured.

"We're here. Are you okay?" Gibbs asked, inwardly freaking out, wondering how badly he was hurt.

"I'm feeling the whack they gave me before, but other than that, I'm pretty much fine. What do you mean 'we're'?" Tony asked, picking what he would say very carefully.

"Everyone's here. Me, Ziva, McGee, Abby, Director, Palmer, Cassie, Hollis and Ducky." Gibbs said, feeling rather confused when Tony asked that so suspiciously.

"Oh. Hi guys." He said, mocking cheerfulness.

"Alright. When the mean lady hangs up, Abby, give Bert and extra tight hug for me." Tony said, but was cut off when the phone was taken off him.

"Okay, enough chit chat, I'm going to give you your next riddle. 'I am strong but I will bend, I am used very much but not attached to anything but something like me.' Hope to hear you soon. Bye." Then the phone hung up. Everyone stayed silent and a few let go of the air they had been withholding. Abby hugged Bert but then a confused look went on her face.

"There's something inside of Bert." She said, looking all over him and stopped at the mouth. There was a small CD case inside of him. She pulled it out and put it into the computer. Tony appeared on the screen, obviously in his apartment's living room.

"Hey, if you're watching this, I've been kidnapped or worse. Now, first, Gibbs, you're a complete hard ass, but it made us all work that much harder. You were the Father of our team, or dysfunctional family. I hope I made you proud." Tony said, smiling at the camera. Gibbs felt a twang of sentimentality in his chest. Tony was like a son. Always goofing off and teasing McGee like a little brother.

"Second, McGee. I know I always gave you a hard time, but that's what you do with your family. You're the little brother, always made your achievements that much better. Sorry if I ever made you feel unwanted. But seriously, get rid of all skin care products with any feminine kind of thing in the name in my memory." He said, barely containing a laugh. McGee let out a sad laugh, and started scratching the back of his hand.

"Third, Abby. You're like my little sister, and I'll always take care of you, and you know that even if I'm, the d word, I'll still watch over you. Like how you said that Kate was a guardian angel and would take care of us. Don't let yourself get sad and always wear your pigtails." He said, running his hand through his hair. Abby held a strand of her hair and smiled sadly, hugging Bert.

"Fourth, Ducky and Palmer. I have no idea what you guys played in our scary family, but you were in it none the less. Ducky, love hearing your stories, always help me through the day and Palmer, you're not a gremlin. You've been promoted to Igor." Tony said, laughing at the inside movie joke. Ducky and Palmer smiled and laughed.

"Fifth, Director Shepard. You are a scary and very intimidating woman when you want to be and you were like an aunt who everyone loved but were also a little afraid of you. And I would like it if you could get Gibbs awards out of my desk drawer and make him take them all back at an award ceremony. It would torture him and give me endless enjoyment." He said, looking at the camera mock imploringly. Jenny laughed and played with her necklace.

"Sixth, Cassie. You were like my big sister. Always looked out for me and made me feels small and insignificant. You'll turn out to be a great Director. Hope your job in Narcotics is working for you. And never wear your hair up it just looks terrible." Cassie laughed and almost looked like she was crying.

"Seventh. Hollis. You always seemed surprised when we knew what to do before you even asked. It's just how Gibbs makes 'em. You were like the family friend who's always over to hang out." Tony said, smiling fondly. Hollis grabbed a tissue from her desk and wiped at her eyes.

"And finally Ziva." Ziva looked at the screen, which she had been avoiding. "You aren't like a sister to me. You aren't anything to do with immediate family." He said seriously. She looked about ready to cry and finally broke when she heard what he said next.

"You were the love of my life. We always picked on each other, played around and fake flirted but I actually love you. I'm sorry that I didn't get to say that while I was still here. I love you." He said, wiping away a stray tear. Ziva was crying unashamedly, freaking out.

"I'm sorry guys. Just remember what I told you. Bye." The Tony leant forward and turned the camera off. The video took ten minutes and left them feeling more determined to save him, especially Ziva.

"Ok, now, does anybody want to try this next one?" Gibbs asked, looking at his team. No, Tony said it first, their family. (ooh. Sappiness alert!)

"A heart." Abby said, keeping Bert in front of her.

"A heart is able to be bent but it's always strong and it always looks for a heart just like it." She said, playing with her pigtails.

"Does anybody disagree?" Gibbs asked, looking around the room at the shaking heads. He nodded. That was their answer. They all waited for the phone to ring, thinking about what Tony had told them. When the phone finally rang, everyone was nervous to say the least.

"Hey. It's me again. Do you have the answer?" She asked, tapping the table.

"Yes. We say a heart." Gibbs said, swallowing involuntarily. They heard silence again on the other end.

"That's your answer?" She asked, sounding rather serious.

"Yes." Everyone said calmly.

"Aww. Sorry. Wrong answer."

TBC

Kagomegirl326:OMG!! How could I be so evil!

AstrohZombeh: Because you love it.

Kagomegirl326: /ponders/ oh yeah. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and i hope you review. Reviews are needed to sustain this authors coffee jar. Byebye.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters but I wish I did. Hope you like his recent chapter.

Replay

"Hey. It's me again. Do you have the answer?" She asked, tapping the table.

"Yes. We say a heart." Gibbs said, swallowing involuntarily. They heard silence again on the other end.

"That's your answer?" She asked, sounding rather serious.

"Yes." Everyone said calmly.

"Aww. Sorry. Wrong answer."

Now to the real story.

Everyone's jaw dropped. Abby fell out of her chair, obviously not going to get up for a while. Venom's malicious laughter filled the room, though not really registered by the people in the lab.

"Okay, now, what am I going to use today? Hm, I think I'll go for a more interesting form of torture. Since Tony here is such a skirt chaser, I'm going to use his own thing against him. I won't tell you what it is but I'll let you guess." She spoke to some people in the room in another language. It 

seemed like it was Spanish and only Gibbs and Ziva really understood. When the woman stopped talking, Gibbs and Ziva went really pale, knowing what Tony was in for. Gibbs motioned for Cassie to turn off their computer mics and for everyone but him and Ziva to leave the room.

"Did you hear what she-" Ziva asked, barely above a whisper, looking really scared. Gibbs nodded.

"Consiga las canedas. Usted los muchachos consigue divertirse poco con él." Gibbs said quietly, breathing deeply.

"'Get the chains. You boys get to have a little fun with him.' Does she mean-?" Ziva said, hoping to god her assumption was wrong. Gibbs nodded.

"Probably. It's why I got everyone to leave. We can't risk hanging up but we can't leave the phone alone because she could kill him anyway." Gibbs said, obviously upset and he looked about ready to kill. Ziva was about to talk when they both heard something from the other end of the phone.

"No! What are you doing!? Get off me! NO!" They heard Tony scream and heard him cry out for help but no one knew where he was. They couldn't help him. All they could do was listen as he screamed in pain and fear. After a few minutes, everything went silent, the they heard a yelp from the injured agent and another scream.

Ziva covered her ears and slid down the side of a bench, crying. Gibbs tried not to listen but the screams were almost defafening. Like the phone was being held near Tony while he screamed.

Soon, the room went silent and then Venom's voice sounded, falling on angry ears.

"All done. Sorry it couldn't go for longer but poor little DiNozzo is unconscious from the pain. That's not very nice of him. I wanted to play with him a little longer. Well, I might as well give you the choice. Do you want the next riddle? I promise I won't hurt him until the next one is answered wrong." She said, as if trying to pacify a child. Gibbs resisted the urge to break the phone and just answered.

"No. We'll skip this one. Don't hurt him or I'll make sure you're time in prison is filled with torture like his." Gibbs answered with enough malice in his voice to make even the most evil, sociopathic killers tremble in fear. She just laughed.

"Alright. See you in an hour." She said, sweetly. Then the phone hung up. Gibbs turned to Ziva and knelt down next to her. She was still covering her ears, and rocking back and forth.

"It's alright. It's over Ziva." Gibbs said, trying to get her to calm down. She finally pulled her hands away from her ears just to meet over her chest, she was hugging herself. Gibbs nodded and walked over to the hallway, motioning for the others to come back in.

"McGee, I need to know how to separate the frequencies of a phone call." Gibbs said, not looking them in the eye. McGee looked rather confused.

"Okay. Just a minute." McGee said, walking over to the computer. Gibbs stood over next to him, watching and listening as he explained what to do. Gibbs tried to listen, mainly trying to keep the sound of Tony's tortured screams out of his head. Ziva stayed quiet and didn't move from her spot on the floor. When McGee finished showing Gibbs how to separate the frequencies of a phone call, the eldest agent sent out everyone else. Ziva included. Gibbs didn't want to force her to listen to the phone call again.

Gibbs started the adjustments to the call, lowering the frequency that he would be listening to. The agent listened carefully as the phone call went on, but Tony and Venom's voices were low enough to allow Gibbs to hear the background noise, although he could still hear Tony's screama.

"Oh, god. Poor Tony." Gibbs whispered, as the recorded phone call ended. Gibb's played it again, listening hard for any distinguishing background sounds. Right after his last scream, there was silence, then the sound of water and birds. A light bulb went on in Gibbs' head.

"The ocean."

Now, with Tony.

Tony whimpered, laying on the ground in his torn, bloody clothes, huddling up next to a metal wall, listening to the waves hit the side. He watched the people over on the other side of the room, putting thing away, though they were wearing masks, probably making sure he didn't see their faces. The female walked over, her black high heels, clicking on the iron floor. She crouched in front of Tony, then took off the mask. She was pale, caucasion, with acid green eyes and bright red lipstick.

"Hello Tony. Having fun yet? I know I am. You're Boss decided to skip this riddle, so we can't hurt you right now. Don't get used to it though. See you again in an hour." She said, getting up and sauntering over to the door, walking out after the others and closing the door. Tony brought his knees up to his chest and cried.

After a few minutes, he turned so he was leaning on the wall and fell asleep, dreaming about everyone coming to rescue him.

Back with NCIS

Gibbs ran out of the lab and brought everyone back in.

"Tony's on a ship." He declared simply, pushing McGee and Abby over to the computers.

"Search for all private boats. Go through the logs and cross reference them from about half an hour after Tony went missing till when we got the first phone call." Gibbs said, then he moved over to Ducky.

"I need you to do a psychological profile on this bitch Venom. If she's been to a shrink then we can check the results against any others. Palmer, you help." He said, pointing to the other room. They both nodded and walked into the room.

"Cassie, check for any cases that look like this one. Hollis, run interference, don't let any outsiders figure out what we're doing, they might want jurisdiction and god help them if they try and get it. Jenny, help her." Gibbs ordered. They both nodded and the director went to the elevator to go to her office.

"Ziva, you're with me." Gibbs said, walking to the stairs. Two flights up, Gbbs stopped and looked at Ziva.

"Are you alright?" He asked, using his patented 'Tell me the truth or I'll force it outta you' Gibbs stare.

"No. I'm not. But I will be when we get Tony back." She said, walking up the stairs. Gibbs smiled, happy with the loyalty his team have for each other and he almost felt sorry for Venom. Almost. Thank god for the electric chair.

TBC

Kagomegirl326: awww poor tony. I think I should start being nice to him. Maybe. What do you guys think?

Astroh Zombeh: You're sadistic aren't you?

Tony: What the Hell Man!!

Everyone nods in agreement.

Kagomegirl326: hey. I'm getting to the next chapter soon. Just, don't kill me. /hides in a closet with her laptop and a jar of coffee.

Hope you review!


	4. Chapter 4

Notice!

Wassup! I'm losing all my concentrative ability on my stories so I'd like to know what you guys want for a story. Stories for NCIS would be easy. Just send me a review with the genre, rating, coupling preferences, characters and if you want, a basic plot line. Hope you review. Slash suggestions would be fine although, please stick with M/M and M/F. Never been very good at F/F.


	5. Chapter 4the real chapter

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Wish I did. Well, ON WITH THE STORY!!

What happened last time

"_Ziva, you're with me." Gibbs said, walking to the stairs. Two flights up, Gbbs stopped and looked at Ziva._

"_Are you alright?" He asked, using his patented 'Tell me the truth or I'll force it outta you' Gibbs stare. _

"_No. I'm not. But I will be when we get Tony back." She said, walking up the stairs. Gibbs smiled, happy with the loyalty his team have for each other and he almost felt sorry for Venom. Almost. Thank god for the electric chair._

_So what's happening now?_

Gibbs paced the room, his mind going through the images that may have gone with the sounds he heard on the phone. He took a breath and sat down at his desk, trying to use work to get his mind off of Venom. He checked the clock to see how long until Venom would be calling and was shocked to see that he only had 30 seconds left. He counted down the time but still jumped when his ringtone pierced through the air. He picked the phone up and answered it in his gruff, intimidating voice.

"Hello?" He said warily.

"Hey. How are you? I'm hoping you're up for the next riddle. One thing first, you might want to gather your friends in the lab. I have a little announcement." She said. Gibbs motioned for Ziva and McGee to follow him to the lab, while Ziva called for the director to come down as well.

They eventually made it to the lab, where Abby was sitting there, holding Burt. Gibbs put the phone on speaker, looking around the room at everyone. They were glaring at the phone, as if it was the cause for Tony's pain.

"Hey, Kiddies. Did you miss me? Well, I decided that I was going to give you a little more insight into what was going to happen to doggie here. See, when I torture people, I have a criteria. There are the groups, Hot, Cold, Sharp, Blunt and Special." She explained. They could hear her shoes clicking on the metal floor. She was pacing.

"Now, I've already used up 'Special' so, you guys can guess what I'm going to use next while you're obsessing over the riddle. But, I'm not going to give you a riddle. I'm going to give you co ordinates. Be careful about what you decide to do with it. 09'10 North, 79'37 West. I hope you know what to do. I'm going to let DiNozzo talk to you for a second. Just because I'm nice." She handed the phone to Tony.

"Boss?" They heard him say, weakly.

"I'm here, Tony. Are you alright?" Gibbs asked, partly hoping not to know the details.

"I'm okay. Not all up there though. Well. I just wanted to say, I want you to name your boat something cool. You know, like Wolf, something foreign, in Latin maybe. It could be a custom in your naming boats." Tony said, emphasizing certain words. He was about to continue talking when the phone was hit out of his hand and it hit the floor. They flinched as Tony made some more yelping noises, then the call cut out.

"Well, what are those co-ordinates?" Gibbs asked, watching as Abby and McGee scrambled over to the keyboard and typed with ferocity. They roughly said at the same time, 'The Panama Canal'.

"They took him to the Panama Canal? That can't be right. They wouldn't have the time to take him, put him on the ship and then gotten him to the Panama Canal in half an hour." Ziva said, frowning.

"Alright. What about the message Tony just gave us? There was obviously a code in that." Gibbs said, picking up his phone and playing the call, which he had recorded like the last one. They listened intently, while Abby typed on her computer.

"The words he emphasized were Wolf, Foreign, Latin and Custom. Anyone got any ideas?" Abby said, sitting back down in her chair.

"It might be in the wrong order. Maybe Latin was meant to go in front of Foreign. What is Wolf in Latin?" Ducky asked, walking over to the computer. McGee typed it into a translator.

"It's Lupus. Maybe it's the name of the ship." He offered, typing it into search.

"Got it. Lupus is a private ship, owned by Clarabelle Evans." He said, typing with such speed that some of the people in the room were surprised that his fingers didn't fall off.

"He also said the words Foreign and Custom. Maybe he was describing the woman. Run the name through customs." Gibbs ordered, taking his usual spot in front of the plasma. It took a couple of seconds for the computer to 'ding'.

"Clarabelle Evans is Italian, she's here on business with her brothers Carmine and Larenz. She also has a boat which she named Lupus," McGee commented, a dark underlining tone when he mentioned Venom. "I'm tracking it's current location now." He said, typing even quicker than before.

"Call me when you have the location, Ziva, with me." Gibbs said, about to run out of the lab when McGee called him back.

"Do you have some running shoes?" He said in a bemused manner.

"What?" Gibbs asked, walking back.

"It's anchored in water by 3rd street. Not even a mile away." He said, running out the door after Gibbs and Ziva.

They made it to the ship soon enough, it was just sitting there, inconspicuously. It wasn't a big boat, compared to the ones they were usually on. But it was still big enough to get lost on. They boarded the ship without a problem, but the next challenge was to find Tony before he got hurt even more. They walked through the ship, their footsteps echoing through the hallways, as they listened for anything sounding remotely human. Gibbs' cellphone vibrated in his pocket and he looked at the number. It was Abby.

"Abs, now is not a good time." Gibbs said, walking looking through the open doors on his way.

"She called. She knows what we're up to. Told me to mention he criteria. She said 'sharp' and 'hot' would be a good combination right now and asked for you to listen to the clue she'll give you." Just as she finished talking, they heard a scream pierce the air from up on the deck. They ran up there to see, two men of medium build, one was holding Tony still and the other was holding a long, pointed piece of steel, with the end bright red.

They turned to shoot at the agents but their fingers never made it to the trigger before they were on the ground, dead. They were about to run over to Tony when they heard the click of the hammer on a gun. All three agents turned their heads towards the noise and saw a woman in a mid thigh length green dress and black shoes.

"Well, done. You found your little lap dog. Too bad for you his little soul is broken. Was when you answered wrong for the first time." She said, maliciously. She sauntered slowly over to where Tony was sitting, holding something in her right hand. It was a small handgun, it was still enough to kill Tony though.

"Drop the guns, or I blow a hole in DiNozzo's forehead." She threatened, in her sickeningly sweet voice. Gibbs immediately dropped his gun, while McGee and Ziva were a little bit more hesitant. Clarabelle pushed the barrel of the gun into Tony's temple, eliciting a whimper from the already beaten agent, making Tim and Ziva drop their weapons.

"Now, since Carmine and Larenz were already in the middle of using 'Sharp' and 'Hot', I think I might try 'Cold' since blunt was already done on your way here." She said, motioning to the large bruises 

covering almost every piece of visible flesh. Gibbs made his hands into fists, trying not to pick up the gun to shoot her in the head.

'She'll hurt Tony before you get a chance.' He reasoned with himself.

"Alright, so, I'm going to ask nicely that Miss David goes and gets that tub of water over there and brings it to me." She said smugly. Ziva looked at Gibbs, hoping he had some kind of plan. He turned towards Ziva and nodded his head, motioning to the container. Ziva walked over, picked up the tub of what she could feel was below freezing water and brought it over to Venom.

"Now, walk back over to your friends and stay there." She said, smiling sweetly. Ziva walked back and took her position on Gibbs' right flank. Just as Ziva stopped moving, Clarabelle grabbed Tony's head and forced it under the water. DiNozzo thrashed, trying to breath but his lungs filled with freezing water. Venom's gaze remained on the three NCIS agents, not wandering to the man that she was killing. She was watching their reactions. McGee turned his head away, not wanting to watch Tony die slowly. Ziva was near tears and Gibbs was using all of his willpower not to run over and beat her into a bloody pulp. His eyes were focused on the gun that was pressed into the back of Tony's head.

"Now, for the finishing touch." She said with as much bravado as possible, then picked up Tony's limp body, who was, thank god, coughing up the water in his lungs, pushed him over board.

"TONY!!"

TBC

Kagomegirl326: OMG! I think I may have just killed Tony! What do you guys think?

Everyone: /Stares at her, jaws dropped/

Tony: WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO YOU!! /hides in the corner with a teddy bear repeating to himself 'god please get her.'

Kagomegirl326: oh well, Hope you like, please read and review!!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or it's characters. If i did you would all be watching this as an episode. Hope you read and review.

What happened last Time!

"_Now, for the finishing touch." She said with as much bravado as possible, then picked up Tony's limp body, who was, thank god, coughing up the water in his lungs, pushed him over board._

"_TONY!!"_

_So what's happening now?_

Tony fell through the air, hitting his head on the railing as he went.

"TONY!!" Gibbs yelled. He shot Venom in the gut, then jumped into the water, going under to try and get Tony. He grabbed DiNozzo's arm and pulled him above water, trying to swim to the edge of the boat, where McGee was holding onto the ladder and reached out to take Tony from Gibbs. They climbed up the ladder and set Tony down on the deck where Gibbs knelt next to him.

"DiNozzo, don't do this to us." Gibbs ordered, leaning over to listen to Tony's breathing while checking his pulse. There was nothing. He started CPR, hoping that he would start breathing again. After 50 seconds, Tony coughed up the water and took a deep breath, while coughing. Gibbs sighed in relief, but then, anger welled in his chest as he stood up and stormed over to Venom, who was, sadly, still breathing.

"Why did you do this!"He yelled, wishing he had done more than shot her in the stomach. The woman smiled a said calmly.

"Come here and I'll whisper it to you." Gibbs leant forward and listened, his eyes widened when he heard what she said. Then, he took a step back and shot her in the head. The other three were shocked at the outburst.

"Did she say why?" Ziva asked, sitting next to Tony, stroking his hair. Gibbs looked over at Tony as he wheezed.

"So she told you why as well?" He asked, barely audible as there was still some water left in his lungs.

"Why?" Tim asked. Then, there was silence for a moment.

"She said, because it was fun. Because she felt like it." Tony mumbled, before finally losing consciousness.

Two hours later

Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, Abby and Director Shepard stood or sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Tony had been admitted more than an hour ago, where he had been whisked off to surgery for internal bleeding caused by the red hot poker being inserted into his stomach and in between his ribs. Abby paced, back and forth, mumbling to herself.

"Where's Ducky, he went to the OR half an hour ago. He was meant to com right back with information about Tony's condition." Abigail obsessed, gulping her Caf-Pow when she was finished talking.

"Ducky said he'd be back soon, so he'll be back soon." Gibbs said, inhaling half of his coffee in one go. Just as he finished, Ducky walked over to them, taking off a pair of latex gloves, covered in blood.

"Hey, Duck. What's the status?" Gibbs asked, grasping his cup of coffee anxiously.

"He is still in surgery. There are multiple superficial lacerations, mainly to his chest. There were also perfurations to his midsection where they inserted a metal pole, most likely heated from the burns, in between two sets of ribs and three inches into his waist, where it, luckily avoided all organs. He also shows signs of sexual assault, numerous times. His right elbow was dislocated, as was his left shoulder. His wrists and ankles are also bruised and cut." Ducky told them, throwing the gloves into a nearby biohazard bin.

"Will he be okay?" Gibbs asked, concern evident in his sharp blue eyes.

"We won't know until he wakes up, but his surgery was going well when I left. He should be out in 20 minutes." Ducky said, taking the cup of coffee that McGee handed to him.

"Oh, my god! That is why you made us leave the lab when we answered wrong, isn't it Gibbs? That was what they did to torture him. You may not remember, but I can speak Spanish too. And Tony? He speaks Spanish. He would have known what was going to happen. Oh, God. I'm the one who suggested that answer. It's my fault he was raped. Oh, my god. Oh, my god!" Abby ranted, nearly in tears. Gibbs walked over and hugged her.

"It's not your fault, Abs. You didn't know that he would be hurt or kidnapped. Don't blame yourself." Gibbs soothed. Abby started breathing a bit slower and she went back to pacing and mumbling to herself.

Soon enough, a woman in blood covered scrubs walked out, taking off her gloves.

"Anthony DiNozzo?" She asked and everyone from NCIS stood up. Gibbs took his place right on front of the doctor.

"I'm Doctor Mathers. I'm the attending. I'll be making sure Mr DiNozzo heals as quick as possible." The woman said, holding out her ungloved hand. Gibbs took it and shook it firmly, as she did.

"So, Dr Mathers. How is Tony?" Gibbs asked, only holding the cup in his hand to keep himself from twitching.

"Well, I'm sure Dr Mallard, sorry, Ducky," She corrected herself when Ducky gave her a disapproving look, "told you about the basic injuries. Also, he has a fractured skull, I'll give you the x-rays so you can determine what weapons they used." She said, a serious look on her face. Gibbs modded and inwardly sighed in relief.

"But, I would like to request something as his physician. Since the injuries are the subject of torture and rape, I need to recommend that a psychologist be present when he wakes up." She said, not responding when everyone else flinched.

"I think we should call his emergency contact before making any desicions. Have they been contacted?" Ducky asked, staying slightly calmer than the others.

"He was the one that brought him in. You're Leroy Jethro Gibbs, aren't you?" She said, motioning towards Gibbs. Gibbs nodded and threw his empty coffee cup into the trash can.

"Alright. So, what course of action would you like to take?" she asked, turning and taking the chart from a nurse who had walked up.

"I will take your recommendation. Do you know a good one?" He asked, his hand twitching slightly. She nodded.

"I'm the head of surgery but I also am a more than capable psychologist." She offered, holding the chart over her chest. Gibbs gave her a look that was kind of judging but then he nodded. Dr Mathers smiled and nodded at the others, then, walked down the hallway. Soon she reappeared, the chart still in her hands.

"Mr DiNozzo has been moved to the west wing, room 218. One of the recovery rooms. He will only be allowed one person to stay with him while he's there." She said, looking at everyone.

"I will." Gibbs said, his hand still twitching from the loss of his coffee cup.

"Alright, follow me and I will take you to his room. Leroy Gibbs can stay with Mr DiNozzo and all of you can visit him for one minute each." She said, walking briskly through the hallways.

"That's alright with me. What will his treatments include?" Gibbs asked, able to keep up with her pace easily. He was starting to like this woman. She was straight forward and didn't like her orders argued with. Like a female version of him.

"Well, we have him on cephlasporin to keep infection from arising and will keep him from becoming infected by the pneumonoccocol bacteria. I looked over his file. He had his head underwater in below freezing water for more than a minute then was thrown into the ocean. Am I correct?" She asked, looking through a thick file.

"Yes, we had to use CPR. His heart stopped for a minute, minute and a half at the most. He also had a bout of-" Gibbs started but was interrupted.

"Pneumonic Plague. I know. His file is extensive. Though, that is mainly ER visits. We will be watching for any signs of Pneumonia while he is in recovery." She said, stopping in front of the room.

"So, who's going first?" She asked. Abby jumped up and down with her hand in the air.

"Abs. Then Ziva, McGee, Ducky and Director. Got it?" He ordered, walking into the room with Dr Mathers. Abby went in with them. Tony was laying in the hospital bed, pale and covered in bruises and lacerations. He was on an intubator and had an IV with a clear bag and a blood bag attatched to his arm. He looked so helpless and broken. Gibbs took the spot he would stay in until Tony woke up. Abby walked over and kissed Tony on the forehead.

"Please get better soon, Tony. There's a stack of DVD's that we have to watch." She said, walking out of the room. Ziva walked in and held Tony's hand, saying a quiet prayer in Hebrew, then walked out of the room. McGee walked in, stood at DiNozzo's bedside and stayed silent for a moment.

"You know you have to come back. I've gotten used to you calling me 'Probie'. No way in hell you're gonna let this beat you." McGee said, walking out of the room. Ducky walked in and offered a small prayer then left, trying not to go on one of his rants.

Director Shepard was last. She walked over and took her 'NCIS Director' stance, trying to compartmentalize.

"You'd better come back soon. I'd hate to lose one of our best agents." She said, trying to look as calm as possible. She walked out of the room, not wanting to look at Tony in his current state. Gibbs looked over at the doctor, who was checking Tony's vitals. She had her stethoscope around her neck and gave him a knowing look.

"You care about him. You only get those looks from fathers watching over their kids." She commented, smiling. Gibbs chuckled and kept watching Tony sleep.

"He's always goofing off, acting like a kid, but he still does what he's supposed to." He said, leaning back in his chair.

"Sounds like a good guy." She said, checking his radial pulse.

"Yeah. So you'll be his Doctor? No changes?" Gibbs asked, watching her work.

"No changes. Okay, his vitals are fine and there should be no problems. Anything changes, press this nurse button here, alright?" She said, pointing to the dark blue button on the wall. Gibbs nodded and moved around in his chair. Dr Mathers walked out and the room was silent.

Gibbs watched the intubator, which would fill up with air, make a noise and would empty into Tony's lungs, ready to fill up again. It was almost hypnotic, making Gibbs drowsy, but he snapped awake when a nurse walked in.

"So you're the relative of Dr Mather's patient?" She asked, holding out a cup of coffee.

"Boss, and his name is Tony." Gibbs said, taking the coffee gratefully.

"Wow, well, Tony's doctor, never warms up to the family or co-workers except for you. I'm the day nurse, Tamara. I'll be here till 2100. Just press the button if you need something." She said, smiling, then walked out.

Gibbs took a large gulp of coffee, watching Tony as he slept. His face was calm but still covered in cuts, bruises, two burns and a gash just above his right temple. Just as Gibbs was about to take another sip of coffee, Tony started moving and his eyes opened slowly. As soon as they were open, they were panicked as he tried to pull out the intubator.

"DiNozzo! That's helping you breathe, just leave it and the doctor will come back and take it out. Just stop trying to take it out." Gibbs ordered, watching as Tony visibly relaxed. Gibbs went over and pressed the button. Soon, the nurse came in, seeing that Tony was awake, went and paged Dr Mathers. The blonde doctor walked in and went to Tony's free side and glanced at the monitors.

"Alright, Tony. Mind if I call you Tony?" She asked, just wanting a reaction from him. He nodded his head as his chest rose and fell.

"Okay Tony, I'm just going to remove the intubator. Now, on three, you're going to have to cough. One, two, THREE!!" She said, pulling on the tube. Tony coughed and took a deep breath, trying not to focus on the pain in his throat.

"Tony, If you can, try not to talk, it will just irritate your throat. Do you understand?" She asked, handing him a glass of water. He took it and drank small amounts at a time, flinching every time he swallowed.

"I'm just going to check your vitals. Do you understand?" She repeated, taking her stethoscope from around her neck. Tony nodded, a little more timidly than normal. Dr Mathers checked his heart rate, respiration, radial pulse and pupil dilation, while asking him questions, checking for brain damage or a concussion. He answered each question quietly and tried to avoid eye contact.

"Okay, you're all clear. Now, I need to talk to agent Gibbs for a moment." She said, about to walk out of the room, when Tony grabbed his arm, fear clouding his eyes.

"Tony, I'll be just outside. I'll be right back okay?" He said, putting his hand on Tony's head, smiling slightly. Tony took his hand off of Gibbs' arm, reluctantly, looking very scared. Dr Mathers walked out of the room and held the door open and closed it when Gibbs walked out.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, taking his intimidating stance. Mathers noticed but didn't back down.

"I need to know, is he acting odd in any way, compared to his normal behaviour?" She asked, holding the chart across her chest again. Gibbs thought for a second.

"Well, he's usually a lot more confident and would have flirted with you. He also seemed a little withdrawn." He commented. Dr Mathers nodded.

"It's common in cases like Tony's, that the subject regresses, sometimes repress memories in order to protect themselves. Did you know him as a child?" She asked, opening the folder in her hands. Gibbs shook his head.

"Well, his medical records show him coming into the emergency room with bruises, concussions, broken, sprained or fractured limbs and one case of scotch covered shards of glass in his head. He was obviously abused as a child and that would explain his timid behaviour. He has repressed all of his normal behaviour and essentially, became a child with adult memories." She said, looking at Tony, who was sitting there, watching Gibbs and holding himself. He obviously didn't feel very safe or just didn't like hospitals.

"I'll bet my career that if someone mentions his parents, he'll be beyond terrorfied." She said, walking away. Gibbs just frowned and walked back into the room. He sat down next to Tony and saw the injured agent relax somewhat.

"You alright Tony?" He asked, downing the rest of the forgotten, lukewarm coffee.

"I just don't like hospitals. They always mean something bad." He admitted quietly, barely audible. Gibbs inwardly growled. This meant Tony would be scared for his life every time he made a mistake.

"Well, Soon, you'll be out. Hopefully." He said calmly, wishing he had another coffee.

"Not soon enough." Tony said, mumbling under his breath. Gibbs chuckled and shook his head.

They sat in silence until Tony did something. He started crying. Gibbs looked over and saw Tony sit up, put his head in his hands and cried quietly. Jethro didn't really know what to do so he tried what he used to when Kelly was upset. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed and hugged him. Tony flinched but didn't pull away, instead, he put his head on Gibbs' chest and shook, breathing harshly.

"I can't stop seeing them, feeling them, hearing them tell me that I didn't deserve to live. That if they didn't kill me, I should do you and everyone else a favour, get my gun and kill myself." Tony said, eyeing Gibbs' sig, thinking that if he moved his hand a little closer...

Before he could move, Gibbs grabbed Tony by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Don't think about that for a single damn second! Don't you dare. If you want to talk, then I'm here but you will not do that to McGee, Abby, Ducky or Ziva." He said, emphasizing the last name. Tony took a deep breath and banished all thoughts about taking the gun. They stayed like that for a while, then Tony pulled away, but still remained as physically close as possible.

"I think I will talk about what happened. Just...not...now." Tony said, looking at the floor. Gibbs nodded slowly.

"As soon as you're ready to tell me." Gibbs said, putting his hand on Tony's head. Tony lay down and closed his eyes almost straight.

This wasn't going to be easy for any of them, but like Tony said. 'They were a family.'

TBC

Kagomeigrl326: omg how cheesy was that.' Oh, well. Wassup, well, I'm going to pull a venom and at the end of each chapter, I will ask you all a question about the show and if there are more right answers than wrong. I will update right away, if there are more wrong ones, then I'll keep putting it off for 24 hours!! MHUAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Here it is. Tony, If you will.

Tony: How many months did I work at Philadelphia PD before going to Baltimore?

Kagomegirl326: There you go. Hope you review.

Everyone: BYE!!


	7. Notice Sorry guys

Alright. This is sadly, another notice to my readers. I can't finish this story on my own, so if anyone would like to help me co-write the story, they can review and help me cause I'm not very good at finishing what I start. Just tell me that you'd like to help and then we can roughly draft the chapters then get into more detail. Again, I'm sorry about not being able to finish this on my own.

Kagomegirl326

LucyFern- /hits Kagomegirl326 over the head/ WTH!

Kagomegirl326- OW! I can't help it!

LucyFern- /sigh/ well, just hope someone can help. Bye guys! Hope you review.


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Author's notes: Alright, I don't own NCIS and this story is being continued thanks to Walkinthegarden. Applause for her. /Hands Walkinthegarden a cookie/.

Recap

"I think I will talk about what happened. Just...not...now." Tony said, looking at the floor. Gibbs nodded slowly.

"As soon as you're ready to tell me." Gibbs said, putting his hand on Tony's head. Tony lay down and closed his eyes almost straight.

This wasn't going to be easy for any of them, but like Tony said. 'They were a family.'

Now, to the real story.

It had been a couple of days since Tony had been admitted and the entire time, the injured agent was flinching whenever someone walked into the room or when he was touched. Gibbs felt that it would be a good time for him to start a therapy session with Dr Mathers.

"Alright, I'll schedule a session with him for tomorrow. Just make sure to keep an eye on him and tell me anything of importance before the session." She asked, walking off down the hallway. Gibbs sighed in relief and went back into Tony's room, to see him asleep. He hadn't been asleep for more than maybe ten minutes at a time, and it reflected in his behaviour. He was very agitated, especially since the doctors wouldn't allow him any coffee.

Gibbs sat at his usual seat, while his fingers curled around the handle of his coffee mug that nurse Tamara had given to him earlier. She was a nice nurse and Tony seemed to like her. Gibbs had asked why once and he said that she reminded him of a girl he once knew in high school that was indiscriminately nice.

His thoughts were interrupted as Tony started mumbling in his sleep, discomfort showing on his face. Gibbs could only barely hear him but what he did hear was unnerving.

"No. Please, get off me. Let go." He whimpered like a hurt dog, while his hands gripped onto the light blue blanket, his breathing speeding up a little bit. Gibbs placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, hoping to wake him up but instead, Tony yelped and flinched away from the touch, his words growing in volume.

"Stop. Don't. Get away from me." He said, his arms held up defensively.

"Tony. DiNozzo!" He said, trying to shake him awake again but Tony let out a bloodcurdling scream, his back arching off the bed, while thrashing around. Gibbs quickly pressed the nurse button and tried to wake Tony up but ended up getting hit in the jaw. He recoiled in pain but shot forward again and tried to stop Tony from thrashing, who was now only shouting. Tamara, another female nurse and two male orderlies ran in, asking what happened.

"He started screaming, I think he's having a nightmare." Gibbs said but then Tony's eyes snapped and he began screaming again.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! PLEASE! DON'T TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME! DON'T!" He screamed, he swung his arms and hit the orderlies, knocking one into the wall and the other into an EEG machine.

"Tony! Stop!" Gibbs yelled, holding him down, but it wasn't going very well. Tamara frowned when Tony didn't respond to Gibbs so she pulled out a small flashlight from her pocket and flashed it in his eyes.

"His pupils are responsive, but...I think he's still dreaming." She said, going to the small cupboard next to her and started setting up a syringe, probably filled with a sedative, but the Tony managed to throw off Gibbs, charged out of the bed and grabbed the syringe and bottle from Tamara.

"Don't touch me." He said, his tone, low, dangerous and desperate.

"It's alright DiNozzo. You're safe." Gibbs tried to reason with him but the younger male stuck out the syringe and pointed it at him.

"Stay back Carmine." He growled, leaning against the wall closest to him. One of the orderlies, finally able to move, got up and took a small step towards him.

"Hell No, Larenz! You two aren't going to come near me ever again." Tony said, then, before anyone could do anything, he pumped the syringe full of the sedative and stuck it into his arm, pushing the plunger down.

"NO!" Gibbs yelled, rushing forward and grabbing the syringe off of Tony, who now looked very dazed.

"Boss?" He called out, barely a whisper, before his eyes slid shut and he fell forward. The older agent caught him and put him on the bed, the jumped out of the way when the nurses and a new doctor ran in, trying to fix the problem. Half the time, he didn't understand the orders they were spouting out but he knew that his Tony's heart was slowing from the beeping of the monitor.

"Gibbs, we need you to leave, call your team and tell them what happened." Tamara implored, helping the doctor administer some drugs. Gibbs nodded and left the room, going to the pay-phone to call the director and have her inform the others.

One hour later

"He had an episode from one of his experiences during the kidnapping and it caused him to become hysterical and attempt to kill himself?" Dr Mathers tried to confirm. Gibbs nodded, and noted how Tony, though he was still recovering from nearly dying of an OD, was sitting up, trying not to fall asleep again.

"It's imperative that I do the psych evaluation now, he's already a threat to himself, and might be to others later on. I've got to check on a post-op patient right now, but I'll be back in about ten minutes and I'll start the session then." Dr Mathers said, turning and walking quickly to another part of the hospital. Gibbs sighed and walked back into the room, in which Tony was currently sitting with a sketch pad on his lap and a pencil was running over the page.

"What're you drawing?" Gibbs asked, sitting down next to Tony's bed. The younger male frowned at the page and put the pencil in between his teeth while he flipped the book over so Gibbs could see. It was a partially detailed sketch of the boat he was on and his three captors, though they were depicted with slightly demonic qualities, Carmine and Larenz had claws and small horns on their heads while Clarabelle had large wings, torn and seemingly leathery with claws and eyes with slitted pupils and her hair was wild. Gibbs frowned and Tony put the book back into his lap and continued adding more detail to it.

Soon enough, Dr Mathers came back and requested that Gibbs leave the room for a while.

"It's just for half-an-hour, an hour tops. Go get some rest. I've checked, you've been running on coffee for the past four days." She asked, but the tone said 'order'. Reluctantly, Gibbs went home to shower, change and bolt back in a surprisingly short amount of time. When he got back, Tony was still in the room with Mathers but was sketching in his book.

'I wonder where he got that.' Gibbs thought but shook it off and stood outside. Just as the door opened, Abby, McGee and Ziva came up to him, holding balloons, movies and a mini DVD player and Bert.

"Can we see Tony?" Abby asked, pulling out the best puppy eyes she could muster, aiming them at both Gibbs and the doctor. Dr Mathers sighed and inclined her head.

"Though not for too long. Be careful not to touch him though, he's still healing." She said, putting on her 'scary face.' They all nodded and entered the room. Gibbs was about to follow when Clarissa (Dr Mathers) stopped him.

"I need to talk to you about the results of the evaluation." She said, frowning, and pulled him next to the nurses station.

"What's the verdict doc?" Gibbs asked, folding his arms, looking over at the room.

"He's not very open about his feelings or his past, am I correct?" Clarissa asked, tying her hair back into a ponytail. Gibbs shook his head and she copied his stance.

"He's not a danger to others. Quite the opposite in fact. He seems willing to risk his own life, maybe even take it himself, for the people he cares about. Any time I asked him about his past, he managed some way to avoid talking about himself and went onto one of his friends. He is a danger to himself if he does not talk about what happened. I am a stranger though, so it'll have to be someone he trusts." She explained.

"I'll talk to him when I get the chance. Did he tell you about the dream?" He asked, noting how, through the window, he saw Tony flinch when Abby hugged him, but still smiled while the others were looking.

"He only told me part of it. That is why my evaluation says he's a danger to himself. He was willing to kill himself to get away from...'Carmine' and 'Larenz', am I correct?" Clarissa asked, reading off of a chart. Gibbs nodded once more. (He's doing that a lot isn't he? =^-^=)

"Thank you Doc. I'll talk to him soon." He answered and walked back into the room.

"And one more thing. Don't let people grab him or do anything at all to surprise him. There may be problems if they do." She warned, then walked off, disappearing into another room. Gibbs walked into Tony's room and saw Abby sitting next to him, looking through the sketch book, a self-hating grimace showing on her face every now and then.

"So, why has it taken you guys so long to visit?" Tony mock pouted while Abby giggled. Ziva answered quickly, while tying the balloon to the end of the bed.

"We're working a small case. We actually need to get back soon or the director will be breathing down our heads." She said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Necks, Ziva. 'Breathing down your necks.'" Tony corrected automatically. Ziva rolled her eyes and whacked the balloon playfully, much like a cat with a toy. They talked for a while longer, said their goodbyes and left, giving Gibbs the chance to talk with Tony.

"DiNozzo, I need to ask about-" He started but Tony cut him off.

"It's fine. Doc already tried during our session. I knew she was gonna get you to do it. But alright, I'm fine with it." Tony said, putting his hands into his lap. Gibbs sat down, wishing he had some coffee, just to have something to hold onto to keep his hands from twitching.

"I guess I should start from when I got to the boat, shouldn't I." Tony asked himself.

They were going to be in for a long night.

TBC

Kagomegirl: I'm soooo sorry for not updating sooner, but the plot bunny ran away with my coffee jar. I got it back but It's still a lot with my studies. Got assignments to do. Hope you enjoyed. R&R. =^o^=


	9. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"DiNozzo, I need to ask about-" He started but Tony cut him off.

"It's fine. Doc already tried during our session. I knew she was gonna get you to do it. But alright, I'm fine with it." Tony said, putting his hands into his lap. Gibbs sat down, wishing he had some coffee, just to have something to hold onto to keep his hands from twitching.

"I guess I should start from when I got to the boat, shouldn't I." Tony asked himself.

They were going to be in for a long night.

Now to the real story.

Tony awoke in a daze, his head splitting. He went to rub it when he heard a metal chink and felt a restricting movement on his wrists.

"What the-?" He said to himself.

"Evening sweetheart." A woman said, an Italian accent making the colloquial nature of the phrase sound odd. Tony looked up to see a woman in a green dress and black shoes. She wore a mask that resembled Renee Zellweger when she did Roxy Hart in the movie 'Chicago'.

"Hey, do you think you could give me a couple of bars of 'Nowadays'? I've always thought that was the best song in that movie." Tony said, giving a charming smile that looked out of place when he was bruised, covered in blood and just generally looked like crap. Instead of getting annoyed, like tapping her feet or putting her hands on her hips, the woman remained unmoving. This unnerved Tony.

"Anthony DiNozzo. It didn't take as long as I thought for my men to capture you. Maybe you're getting old." She said playfully. Tony kept smiling through the menacing aura she gave off, attempting to slip his hands out of the hand-cuffs. They were tied pretty tightly but he found that with enough force, you could get out of hand-cuffs. Though sometimes this resulted in failure and bloody wrists or freedom and a broken thumb.

"You do realise that those hand-cuffs are coated in a layer of venom from Oxyuranus microlepidotus. It's more commonly known as the Inland Taipan or Fierce Snake. It'll kill you but not before making you extremely ill. So it would be best to stop playing about with them." She said, walking over to the immobile agent, her heels clicking and echoing around the room.

Tony sat there, giving one last tug on the cuffs before settling for glaring at his captor. She gave off this malicious aura that unnerved him but nevertheless, he attempted his favourite technique to get kidnappers to make a mistake. Piss them off beyond all rational thought.

"So, either you're an ex that wants a little bit of payback or just some casual nut-job wanting some go-time with the boss-man." He said, smiling wanting some manner of reaction from the woman. The reaction he got was surprising but not unknown. She began to laugh and walked patiently towards him. He kept up his smile even though he was tensing, wandering what she was going to do. She didn't seem agitated and it wouldn't have freaked him out as much as this nonchalant attitude.

"You are not going to bait me into anything. I'm not like those two bit killers you and your little friends deal with. I don't yell, I don't hit them and I don't care if I get caught. When I'm done with you, you won't be able to get me out of your mind." She said, taking off the plastic mask, showing her pale complexion, ruby red lips and heavily done mascara and eye-liner.

Tony swallowed but tried to keep up his brave face. She smiled sweetly and walked away, closing the door quietly behind her. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and let his head drop forward.

"She so not normal." He said quietly, before falling forward and losing consciousness on the cold concrete, praying to whatever higher power that was listening to save him.

"So, she didn't do anything to you." Gibbs asked, forgoing his coffee for the moment. Tony shook.

"Not at first. She came back a little bit later with the phone and I talked to you guys. After she gave you the first riddle, she told me the answer and then left me alone in the room. I was praying that you guys would get it cause during my time alone I had time to listen and I heard the ocean. I wanted to tell you guys that that was where I was but they had a gun at my head and would have known if I was using code."

Gibbs frowned and kept listening. Tony averted his eyes, as if the covers were a fascinating thing as he ran his hands over the material. There was silence in the hospital room for a moment, save for the heart monitor that kept at a decent rate. The special agent knew better than to pressure Tony into talking again so he kept the silence until Tony drew in a shuddering breath and continued.

"Then you guys got the next riddle. She didn't tell me the answer cause she thought it would be more fun." He said, scoffing a little bit. "Then when you gave the answer I knew it was Abby who chose that. But I also would have broken her heart to hear what Venom said next." He said, clenching the light blue material in his hands.

"That we were wrong." Gibbs said for him. Tony nodded, still refusing to look up. Gibbs could hear the heart monitor speeding up, as if deciding that this point in time would be good to alert Gibbs to Tony's distress.

"If you want to stop now, it's fine-"

"No." Tony said, taking another deep breath. Gibbs was slightly startled at the way the monitor slowed down as a demonstration of Tony's will to keep calm. "I need to talk about this. Doctor Mathers said I wouldn't get better if I didn't face it. But then again she told me that talking about it a bit later would be better." He said.

"Alright. Just do what you feel is best." Gibbs said calmly. Tony nodded and sat up a bit.

"At that point in time, she said that your answer was wrong. Then she talked to Larenz and Carmine. It's a good thing I understand Spanish or else i wouldn't have seen it coming. It didn't matter though." Tony said, his breathing rate increasing and his heart rate climbing.

"They got the chains and they- they-" Tony tried to finish but he began to hyper-ventilate and he grabbed his head, trying to calm himself down. Gibbs stood up quickly and was almost knocked back when Tony grabbed the lamp on his bedside table and almost hit him with it.

"NO!" Tony yelled, not looking at anything besides his hands. Two orderlies ran in with a nurse and Doctor Mathers, attempting to grab a sedative and administer it but Tony pushed them all away every time they got near him.

"NO! Don't touch me! I'll do it! Just let me." He said, breathing in and out, trying to keep it at a steady rate. Soon enough his heart rate slowed down and he fell back on his bed.

"Get them out, please." Tony begged with Gibbs, his eyes watering, as he eyed the syringe nervously. Gibbs nodded and layed a comforting hand on Tony's head, motioning for the others to leave. Doctor Mathers gave him a look that said 'I hope you know what you're doing.'

Gibbs nodded and sat down next to Tony as the injured agent cried quietly and soon fell asleep. Not a peaceful one but close enough.


	10. Author swapping

Hi,

This is addressing all the people that like reading this fanfiction. I'm going to scrap it. I've put it off for too long and I can't think of how to continue it. I have sent a message to the co-author though she has not responded as of late.

Now I'm extending it to the others who may want to do this. If you would like this story to continue on whatever terms you want, just review and I'll have a link put in to the new author's continuation of it.

I'm sorry that I cannot continue this.

Sincerely Guitargirl214


	11. Last notice

Last notice, the story Riddles will be taken over by Walkinthegarden. Just go into the review section and you'll find her screen name.

I hope you enjoy the continuation that she will be writing.


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